


Simple Gifts

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-28 23:52:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17192558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "Jack wonders why his fellows have never worked with children, why they had to be coaxed into doing more than guarding them. Don’t they remember the joy and fun of being a child?As time goes on, he finds out more about the Guardian’s pasts. How North was an orphan, fighting to live in the cold from day one. Bunny’s people were slaughtered in an ancient war, leaving him to start over alone. Sandy’s ship crashed, leaving him stranded. Toothiana’s parents, killed by her parents enemy when she was twelve, hunted by the village she grew up in - the last of her kind.They have never been children.Whether Jack decides to do something, or if he just realizes that he isn’t the only one who suffered is up to the filler."Gen with bookverse elements, always a challenge for me, and primarily why I decided to have a three-day hiatus to an amusement park. But I’m back now!Jack gives the Guardians things they should have had, or never lost.





	Simple Gifts

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr 5/23/13.

Soon, it becomes easy for children to see Jack, and for Jack to see what kind of fun a child would like to have. It’s not all perfect sledding hills and snow days, as it turns out, but when Jack finds he’s able to use powers he never knew he had before to make sure that girl can get through the next ten chapters of her massive book undisturbed, or that boy has access to unlimited drawing paper, it feels just as good as creating any impeccable snowflake. 

As time passes, though, he starts to notice slight tuggings at his mind, like the wishes of children to have fun, like wishes for childish joy, but fainter. They’re hard to follow, and when Jack does, he thinks he must not have been successful, since there are only ever adults where he thought the pull was coming from.

He talks about this to Sandy one evening, who, even if he may not be listening closely (though often he is) at least does not interrupt. When he pauses, Sandy pats him on the arm to get his attention and tells Jack he knows just what he’s talking about. He explains that for many reasons, most adults who no longer believe in the Guardians, or never did, from time to time long for what the Guardians provide. Childlike wonder and hope, vivid memories, sweet simple dreams, and moments of pure joy. Sometimes they miss what they once had. Sometimes they long for what they never had. We can’t protect every childhood, Jack. Sandy smiles a little sadly, and tells Jack he’ll have to decide what he wants to do about what he’s been feeling. As for himself, he gives all the dreams that are needed, regardless of the age of the dreamer.

Jack begins to pay more attention to the faint pulls now, and, even while doing all he can for the children, he finds himself able to nudge the adults as well. He knows they’ll never see him, but now that the children do, that doesn’t seem so bad. He learns to distinguish between those who had and lost, and those who never had. Sometimes the simplicity of the things he needs to do for them cuts him to the heart. Many of them simply want permission. 

Yes you can buy ice cream today. Yes you can stand barefoot in the grass today. Yes you can try writing a poem today.

It’s only when he begins to feel the longing of those who never had coming from his new friends that he has a chance to ask about how they came to feel that way. They all tell him their different stories, and try to act like it doesn’t matter. For all of them, the things that happened happened a very long time ago. But Jack’s spent enough time with Sandy to know that words don’t tell the whole story.

North’s gift is easiest, interestingly enough, given his job. Jack finds out something he’s rather bad at but thinks he should be good at (painting, as it turns out) and they spend the whole day doing just that. They make a mess, and don’t produce anything impressive, but Jack is there, and he’s adamant in saying that it’s okay. Producing something perfect isn’t always a matter of life and death, or even necessary. A bad painting isn’t the same as a bad parry.

From Bunny, he coaxes rules of games that haven’t been played in age upon age, finding the patience within himself to learn those rules and follow them. He learns, too, how to speak a strange language. There will be no need for translation while they play. One game in particular is perfect half the time, since it needs one player to be blindfolded. When Bunny does poorly on his turns, he doesn’t wonder why. Eyes covered and speaking his language, Jack need not be a human boy, and the weight of years can be lifted.

With Tooth, he flies. They fly in daylight, madly, mischievously, in front of the children’s wondering eyes and the adults’ unseeing ones. They race, they dive, they loop-the-loop, and they pretend that everyone can see them. They pretend that everyone can see them, and that nobody minds. They pretend that Tooth has always been safe, flying like this.

Sandy is the most difficult to figure out by far, but on a visit to Dreamland, Jack notices some music books in an out-of-the-way corner. He flips through one, and discovers that all the songs are duets. When he finds memorizing them is easy, he’s pretty sure he’s found the right thing to do. When Sandy joins in one of these songs a few nights later when Jack visits him on his cloud, he knows he’s found the right thing to do.

Afterwards, Jack doesn’t leave the cloud right away. He thought he was going to ask Sandy if he would use his voice more often now—it was so soothing and peaceful—but instead he just admits that he was the hardest to figure out.

“Not quite,” Sandy whispers. “Still one more. But I think you’re up to the challenge.” He pushes him off the cloud then, and when Jack catches himself he finds he’s hovering above a familiar bare patch of ground.

“Challenge or impossibility?” he says to himself, looking at where the bedframe used to be. “But if Sandy thinks it’s all right…” he shrugs. “Maybe it’ll help. Maybe it’ll help everything.”

He flies down and begins looking for a way in.


End file.
